The continued external uncertainty over Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea job only reflects similar internal uncertainty.
Co-owners Todd Boehly, Behdad Eghbali and Jose E Feliciano, among others, remain undecided on the Argentine’s future ahead of their end-of-season review.
Pochettino has just one year remaining on his initial two-year deal, although there is an option for another year’s extension.
And while performances have continued to improve, underlying tensions in the backroom pose a looming threat to his job security.
Has Chelsea’s form improved enough to save Mauricio Pochettino’s job?
We’ve come a long way from the lemons. While the plan was always to assess Pochettino’s future at the end of the season, there have been moments where an untimely sacking would have been no great shock.
The aim was always an instant return to the top four and Champions League, a necessary step to balance the books after a £1.1bn transfer expenditure, but a sixth- or seventh-placed finish may now be enough to secure Pochettino’s position.
On the back of three consecutive wins and a comeback draw at Villa Park, there is a feeling Chelsea are on a sustained upwards trajectory for the first time under the Boehly-Clearlake regime.
In fact, Pochettino’s side are fourth in a Premier League table of 2024, a statistic which made the Argentine physically clap in his press conference on Tuesday. They have also lost three of their past 19 games and scored the second-most goals of any top-flight side in the past 13 matches.
Of course, across those 13 matches, they have also suffered demoralising draws from winning positions against relegated sides Burnley and Sheffield United and been embarrassed by Arsenal.
Across the whole season, they have conceded the most goals of any Chelsea side in the Premier League era (61) and have such a significant discipline issue they have broken the league record for yellow cards (101, now up to 104). No-one is suggesting all the flaws have been ironed out.
Pochettino also said recently he had not spoken to the owners for “months”, only conversing through sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley.
Yet despite this, Boehly spoke positively of Chelsea’s recent performances in a rare public appearance at the Sportico conference in Los Angeles. He will speak again in Qatar on Wednesday, where we could hear more of an update on Pochettino’s future.
What exposed a backroom split?
One of the most subtle yet significant issues in the internal breakdown of communications between Pochettino and the ownership was the hiring of Brentford’s set-piece specialist Bernardo Cueva.
This may have seemed like a non-event, yet Pochettino was publicly dismissive of set-piece coaches when Cueva’s appointment was first floated, believing they infringe on the close-knit coaching team he has built and transports from club to club.
The Argentine eventually conceded that he was open to hiring Cueva, who has contributed to Brentford’s exceptional set-piece record, but still reinforced it was the owners’ idea and that he may not allow him on the touchline.
“I am the head coach and I am going to decide if some people are going to be with me or not, or if I’m going to add more people or not to the touchline,” Pochettino said.
“Sometimes I work [on set-pieces], sometimes Jesus Perez [his assistant] does. We are a coaching staff who work already on set-pieces. We are not only working in the gym or the tactical area.
“[Cueva’s arrival] is the idea of the owner and sporting directors and we are very supportive.
“We are aware the club want to create a global area about set pieces to reinforce the two people here. If some people come here to add their knowledge and to help us and to be better, very welcome. We cannot go against the things that can help us to be better and to maybe help us to win games.”
Yet this directly undermined what Pochettino had previously advocated for and clearly was not his choice. Given he already has little control over transfer activity and is only on a relatively short-term deal, he may well have believed Cueva’s appointment was an infringement too far on his authority at Chelsea.
This is just one of the hints at the internal civil war between Pochettino and the ownership/ sporting directors, who continue to provide him little-to-no public backing or praise.
Pochettino has appeared to use his press conferences to communicate with both the ownership and the fans, often justifying his own value and performance to the press.
One of the more concerning trends has been his constant deflection of difficult questions by saying “ask them”, meaning the owners and sporting directors, highlighting this backroom split.
His lack of control over this summer’s impending sale of Conor Gallagher, his on-field captain for much of this season, will also contribute to the tensions.
Pochettino also regularly emphasises the impact of the club’s repeated injury crises and has called on senior players to take a greater proportion of the blame for their poor form, attempting to exonerate his own failings.
“Football is about supporting each other, trusting each other and to feel the confidence of each other,” he said recently.
“We need to trust the players and they need to trust in us. The owners need to trust in us, trust in our vision and view. The sporting directors need to understand that we are the people dealing directly with the players and performance and the medical staff.
“Clubs that are winning titles are working in this way. It is about having trust and having a vision that this is the way we need to operate and work.”
And last week’s “maybe we are not happy” speech, suggesting he could leave Chelsea of his own volition this summer, felt like a threat to the ownership as much as a candid admission. If he does not feel the necessary trust, which has certainly not been forthcoming, it could force him out.
Could Pochettino choose to leave Chelsea?
Pochettino has since rowed back on his comments about quitting, saying on Tuesday: “I never said I am not thinking of the future. The plan is there to start the pre-season – the date we are going to start – and then it is not in my hands to be here or not to be here.
“People are talking a lot in this season. People are talking about many things. If you asked me about all the things that have happened over the last 10 months, then I think to get into Europe would be very good for us.
“But are we going to judge people because of the results or are we going to judge people because of the process put in place and all of the circumstances that we have had [to deal with]? That is a difficult thing to judge.”
He was also clear he is happy in his role, but this instant retraction reflects deeper anxieties about his continued job insecurity. He appears well aware he could lose his job as early as next week and that even the final two games of the season, away to Brighton and at home to Bournemouth, could prove decisive.
The difference between Europa League and Europa Conference League qualification has also been reported as a cut-off point for the Argentine’s continued employment, although given the uncertainty around qualifying positions, this would seem particularly harsh.
But it remains apparent that despite on-pitch improvement, Pochettino could still be unemployed within the next week if tensions are not resolved and results do not go his way.
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